Page 12 of So Worth More
It was as if the dam had burst and the story of it all came flooding out. I hurt for Pete, for the love he had for Henry, thinking that he would never be loved back. He went through the times that he thought maybe it wasn’t all one-sided and that Henry was just holding back because he hadn’t been with a guy before. Yet Pete made these times sound like the worst of times because he doubted they were real, that hope had manifested them in some sort of fever dream.
Then Gemma had come along and driven a wedge between them. Henry had seemed besotted with her at first and felt that she could do no wrong. Pete had been determined to like her despite the jealousy he felt. It wasn’t her fault that Henry didn’t want him.
Unfortunately, she disliked him immediately. The more time she spent with Henry and then with Pete as they still lived together, the worse things got for Pete. She seemed to see right through him and took more and more of Henry’s time, so Pete was increasingly sidelined. After a few remarks he had decided to move out, wanting desperately for Henry to beg him not to. Even with him out of the way, she wasn’t happy, always interrupting when they planned to hang out.
“If he gives her what she wants, I think that’ll be the end of our friendship. We’re already struggling. It isn’t like us to fight like this and I hate it. Gem is fighting dirty, she keeps getting in his head about me and telling him that I give her looks, or that I made a pass at her.” I scoffed at that last bit and he lifted an eyebrow at me. “Seriously! Henry laughed at that one though and told her that even though I’m bi, I lean towards men and she isn’t my type. At all.” He laughed. “She was so offended!” He chuckled some more and I couldn’t help but picture her indignant face and laugh too.
Sure, Gem was cute, maybe a couple of years younger than my twenty nine, petite with a ton of that redhead attitude. Gorgeous chocolate brown eyes that she totally knew how to work to her advantage, and charming when she wanted to be. A politician through and through, she worked for the mayor.
There had been something about her I hadn’t liked the first time I’d met her. She was already a fixture in Henry’s life by then, and I was the new guy though so I kept my opinion to myself. Bit remarks back even when I heard her make a couple of homophobic comments. I didn’t think she was a bad person, just sheltered and maybe a little immature. She had chased Henry pretty hard from what I’d heard. Something that Brad had found hilarious.
“What’re you going to do?” I couldn’t help but ask. Dealing with Pete’s problems took my focus off mine and I wanted to help him. It’d been a long time since I had a circle of friends. Especially guys, as Jason had been horribly jealous of any guy speaking to me, and had slowly cut me off from any friends I had.
He shrugged. “Not sure, to be honest. I’m thinking about going traveling for a bit. Maybe some space will be good.” He paused, considering. “He needs to decide for himself what he wants. If she’s it, then fine. If not, then great. Thing is, he keeps involving me in it like I’m a part of their relationship. I can’t choose her for him because I don’t think she’s good enough. She’s a sweet girl when she wants to be, but he isn’t in love with her. If he was, he wouldn’t be asking my opinion. It isn’t fair to ask me.”
He sounded so frustrated and I could only give him a sympathetic glance before we were interrupted by the others coming in. Pete looked confused to see Henry with them. It was much earlier than usual for him to be joining us. Often, he had to wait until closing and clean down which was over an hour away. We’d have had a couple of beers by the time he arrived.
Henry dropped into the booth with a groan of exhaustion next to Pete. Making the other man shuffle along to avoid him sitting in his lap. He sat closer than was necessary as if penning Pete in would keep him there if he wanted to leave. His face looked pinched and tiredness sat heavy on him.
Will sat next to me, leaving a respectable distance between us, though I could smell his cologne and the scent of his shampoo from his freshly-washed hair. Brad made a face that no room had been left for him before he shuffled off to get a chair to put on the end, which was Henry’s usual place.
I watched as Pete and Henry seemed to have a silent conversation before they both slumped in defeat looking away from each other. Clearly, they’d reached a stalemate.
Will gently poked me in the side to get my attention and when I glanced up, he gave me a questioning look. I shook my head, unable and unwilling to get into it. Everything that Pete said was staying with me. My friendship with him came naturally. Why couldn’t it be the same with Will?
Eleven - Will
After a couple hours in the bar, a few beers and some snacks, Brad made his excuses to go home to his husband. He’d been on his phone for the last hour texting, orsexting, judging by the heat in his eyes. Pete had practically leapt up and decided to go with him. They lived close enough to each other that they could share an Uber.
Part of me wanted to check in with Henry. He hadn’t seemed quite right all night. He was still laughing and joking around, but he didn’t include Pete as much even though he was pretty much in the guy’s lap. Pete looked distinctly uncomfortable and kept engaging Andy in quiet conversation. Mostly though, I wanted Andy to myself. He and Pete had gone off together, Pete obviously needing someone to talk to, but he then had taken all Andy’s attention for practically the whole night. I was aware that I sounded like a spoiled brat not wanting to share a toy. Not that Andy was a toy. Inside,I was rolling my eyes at myself. I was being a dick. Our friends were going through something and needed us to support them.
It struck me as funny all of a sudden. I’d spent so long avoiding relationships, even decent friendships because of all the shit I’d been through. Until Andy anyway, then he’d come along and decided that he was going to break down all those walls. He’d given me a great group of friends. People that I was sure I could rely on. That would be there for me the way my old friends should have been when things all went to crap, instead of vanishing into the ether.
Henry may have questionable taste in women. Gemma was the definition of hard work, but he was a solid guy with a wealth of experience. Completely reliable and fair. Pete was quiet, some would say withdrawn, but I think his last year of the military without Henry had messed him up a little. He didn’t have any family and Henry’s parents treated him like another son. So he got what it was like for me to be cut off from half of my family. I hadn’t even told Andy all that stuff yet but somehow Pete had pulled parts of it out of me. Brad had traveled the world in his boxing career and knew all sorts of things and people. Nothing shocked him and he was chill to be around. Out of the group, aside from Andy, he was the one I gravitated towards normally. It didn’t matter that he was quite a bit older than me; we just got each other and he was easy to be around on days when people in general just pissed me off.
After the others had left, I noticed Henry making a face at his phone. “Everything okay?” Andy asked him.
“Yeah, just Gem. I told her I was out tonight but she wants to come over.” I’m pretty sure he didn’t want us to see how utterly thrilled he was failing to be at the idea of spending the night with his girlfriend. Yet instead of staying and talking it out with us, he checked his phone again and decided to go meet up with her.
Making a quick exit, he left me alone with Andy for the first time since we had dinner last week. I wasn’t sure how to navigate this whole “friends” thing. Despite what he thought, our hookups had meant a lot to me. He was the first person I’d been with more than once since Ethan decided to sleep with my brother. After that, it’d been a string of one-night stands, but only after almost a whole year of just my hand.
As cold as it sounded, I didn’t need another person in my life. I didn’t need to be half of a couple or a third in a trio or whatever. Most of the time I was happy to be on my own. Sometimes I would get a little lonely, so I’d call my mom or my sister and we’d hang out. Until Parker’s, I didn’t get a whole lot of free time while working six day weeks and ten or even twelve hour days. Having drifted from or blocked most of my old friends, there weren’t many people for me to call on the little time off that I did have.
Instead of hanging out with people who were liable to stab me in the back while being nice to my face, I’d learned to be okay on my own. My mom had been delighted when she found me drawing and sketching again. We had a cabin outside of the city that sat on the shore of a lake and she encouraged me to go up there as often as I could. She made sure that Alex and Charlie knew it was off limits.
Being unable to go to the beach house was the cost of having the lake to myself. Suited me fine really, sand got places it had no business being. Before everything with Andy, I’d started going up to the lake again and on any weekend where we weren’t together, I would escape the city to hike and sketch.
“Hey.” I caught Andy’s attention from the TV screen he’d been watching as he turned to look at me. “My family has a cabin outside of town, a couple of hours away. D’you think you and the guys would want to take a trip up? Spend maybe Friday and Saturday, then come back Sunday? The weather’s getting cooler, but it’s still fine to hike and I think there’s stuff to do in the surrounding area. Brad could even bring his husband if he takes the master suite. Either Henry and Pete or you and me would have to double up though, unless someone doesn’t mind sleeping in the den.”
“Seriously? You have a cabin we can go to?” Disbelief was all over his face and in his tone. “Oh! We should make a long weekend of it. Take a half day Friday and have Monday off, or work remotely.” He looked absolutely thrilled at the idea and it warmed me that I could make him so happy with such a small thing. Maybe this being friends thing could work.
Twelve - Andy
I’d half thought that the Friday night hangouts were all I was going to get from Will outside of work and the gym. Thankfully, I was mistaken. He’d called me late Saturday morning explaining that the Field Museum had a new exhibit he wanted to see, and asked if I wanted to go with him. I reminded myself often as I showered that this wasn’t a date. Friends went places together. The exhibit sounded great, so I suggested we get lunch first then walk it off round the gallery.
The day was cool but dry, so I threw on my favorite red hoodie over a dark blue long-sleeved t-shirt. I found a pair of black cargo pants to put on instead of my skinny jeans. I wanted to be comfortable while we were walking around. My red Converse were found under my bed. I didn’t want to look like I’d tried too hard, but I wanted to look good at the same time.
Nerves filled me. Despite all the time we’d spent together, we’d never done anything like this before. I didn’t know all that much about Will, only catching glimpses of who he really was underneath the personas he adopted. That Will was someone really special, I could tell. It wasn’t just wishful thinking; I was sure there was a side to him that I could really care about, maybe even love. And I hadn’t thought about risking loving anyone for a long time.
